Is it possible to collect too fast?

I've had similar feelings to this. After I bought my first doll I bought three tinies in pretty quick succession and worried that I was going to fast but I believe as long as you make smart choices and can afford it then whatever pace you go at is fine.

 

No. Well, I mean it depends on the person, I'm not even bringing money into the situation. It kinda goes with the buying multiples at once and is all about what you as a collector feel you can handle and are comfortable with. Personally, I just had the experience of 3 openings in about the space of a month and my head is spinning slightly (or that may be the allergy meds). Arrival timing is the ting. They all got to me faster than I expected! XD

 

*cough* I didn't make an generalities. everything I said was meant from a personnal point of view.
this is why I said "from my point of view" TWICE!
personnaly I wouldn't remember the name of each (I said I BET others would be like that, not I KNOW. it was kind of a joke to underline that I think over 50 dolls is too much ), I wouldn't be able to enjoy them all, therefore I don't see the point of it.

sorry if I didn't make it clear...

 

It depends, each person is different so what might be too fast for me could be too slow for someone else and vice versa. As long as you're still enjoying them I don't think you can go 'too fast'. If I had the funds I would collect faster than I do now for sure, but I still probably wouldn't get more than one doll at a time unless they went together (couples, siblings, etc.) so I could get to know them and spend time with them before getting another one, otherwise I don't think I could enjoy them the way I'd like to.

 

There is a thread where they discuss the dolly flood that seems to happen at first, which may be what your experiencing. And yes it depends on the person greatly.

I have a lot of dolls and sometimes they came in, in large numbers. Then that tends to happen most often when my hand is pushed. A limited doll comes out, right at the same time as I find a doll on the Marketplace I've been wanting and is out of stock, and then a company with a wish list doll has a sale I can't pass up, and there is a special event head with it that I must have, etc...

People also think that with a large collection you won't remember their names, and I can tell you that's not true. I can list off all my dolls from memory (which sometimes is a challenge when a few are away for face-ups, etc...). When you spend so much money on something, even if you have a lot of them, you tend to remember the names of them.

I find the biggest problem with collecting to fast is that you end up with naked dolls! They are missing wigs or clothes or eyes or shoes or something. I have gotten to the point I have spare temp clothes for new dollies until a decent semi-permanent outfit can be found. And I make sure to order a proper wig and eyes with the doll now. Shoes... they can be bare footed.

 

Well, if new ones are piling up so fast that you end up with more unfinished than finished dolls, or you find yourself owning more dolls than you have the capacity to love, I'd say you need to slow down.

Otherwise, I think there is no "wrong number" of dolls to have.

 

Hm. I feel like I am buying quickly, yes... The thing is that I know pretty well what I want, and I don't seem to change my mind about sculpts - so far, I have been pretty good at estimating what I will like and what will work. No 'make do' dolls for me! So now the one thing I get panicky about is that 'the' sculpt may not be available when I'm ready to buy it, and this makes me hurry a bit :/. A few weeks ago, Soom Dia was suddenly marked 'sold out' and I got into a bit of a fit: I've been putting off buying her because she costs more than what I'm actually comfortable paying for a doll, but if I can't have her, I won't be able to shell one of my favourite characters. The 'sold out' thing is exactly what I have been fearing most in my (short) existence as a BJD person :p.

I do worry about dollie indigestion - a few months ago, I thought I wouldn't be able to handle more than two SDs. So I didn't order my third until I really felt ready. I trust my feelings in this: I have to feel ready for a new doll, even if this means that I must hope that Soom Dia remains available for a while longer. I want her, but I'm not ready for her yet, so I'm waiting. Until now, that system has worked quite well.

June 2011 was when I first discovered BJDs... In ten months' time, I have bought five dolls . I haven't regretted a single one, though! However, in the meantime, I have learnt to wait for events. For my first dolls, I was in such a hurry to get them into my eager hands that I bought them as soon as I could, thereby missing out on every. single. event . At least that finally changed with my latest SD.

 

For me, collect dolls too fast is a really bad thing. one time i got a doll and this make me hard in money in a period of time, i wont do that again OTL...now i prefer to buy new clothes for my dolls:3

 

If you can afford to buy a bunch of dolls in a short period of time, then really there's nothing wrong with it. It's your money, you spend it the way you want to spend it.

The only time someone may be going too far with how they are collecting is if they run into financial troubles as a result. But if you keep up with your bills, and can feed yourself... well you do what you wanna do.

 

I bought way too many at once -around 20 in one year after taking a long break from the hobby. I feel like I wasted money on them because I didn't get the same amount of joy that I would have if I'd bought one at a time over a period of many years. In retrospect, I should have used some of the money to buy a good camera first. One of my favorites is starting to yellow now (he's four years old), and I don't have any high quality pictures of him when he was new.

I rationalized buying so many because they were all either limited in some way or on sale. I thought I'd regret not getting a doll if it became unavailable later. With some, I probably would have regretted it, but there are limited dolls I've passed on since my buying craze ended, and I'm glad I didn't give in to temptation.

 

Well, it you have the money and really want to get in to the hobby, I see no problem with it.
I got my first doll home last november, and now (5 months later) I have 3 dolls at home and 4 on the way..

I think that in the beginning there are a lot of dolls that you want, but the flow will decrese ones you have a few dollies. But well see, I guess :p

However, I know of a collector who (in my opinion) is collecting too fast. She has maybee 16-20 dolls now after collecting less than a year. That is fine, really.. But she don't have time to give them clothes or faceups, she just has an urge to get more before making them pretty. That's a bit sad in my view, but on the other hand - your money, your choise.

 

I can't see anything wrong with it!
5 dolls in a year really isn't so bad!
You're fresh into the hobby and you're having fun.
You're building your collection and as long as you are happy then I say keep it going!
Buy the dolls you want while you can, cause you never know if your situation will change and you won't be able to afford to buy any more.

 

Yes, it is most definitely possible to collect too fast, but the solution is that when you think it is negatively affecting you, you slow down.

Too fast is personal. For example: One person can at moment A in their life happily buy five dolls in one week and then start doing the photostories they've wanted to do for ages. All the time spend on buying and finding the right wigs, eyes, clothes is much enjoyed too. At moment B of this person's life buying two new dolls in one year may be too much as where are they going to find the time to get the right wigs, face-up, clothes etc. and get the doll properly restrung and wired? Another new doll may then be experienced as work and not fun.

If I had the money and the time, I'd buy five dolls in a heartbeat. It's just that I don't have the time and five new dolls would overwhelm me and make me unhappy. It just wouldn't have time to enjoy them (I love my job too and it's very busy at the moment) and that would take away the fun. So buying five dolls in a year would be too fast for me at the present time, but there have been years I've bought between five and ten dolls and was perfectly happy with it that way.

If you feel you're going too fast, because it is making you feel unhappy or perhaps even stressed, then you should slow down. Thinking "But what will other people think of me if they see me buying so many dolls?" is not a good way of judging whether you are going too fast and should slow down.

 

Absolutely, and yet the dolls have a habit of multiplying without you realizing it. I mean I've only been in this hobby and I've got 10 with 2 on the way. One is to be delivered to me today or tomorrow even.

I have no idea how I've afforded them all.. it's a dizzying notion having nearly a doll for every month of the first year if i'd only been in the hobby for a year..

 

Indeed. xD; it is more than just possible to collect too fast. I mean >>; just look at my collection OTL
Although I must admit to being in the hobby for several years before coming to DoA the major boom happened late on...

 

I'm so bad at keeping track of things.... I think I'm in year 4 of dollie ownership (Though I was into them for almost 3 years prior) and atm I have 5 complete dolls, 4 floating heads, 2 sets of floating fantasy parts, and a pair of skeleton hands. I've never had a real job. My family doesn't make much money and I buy everything myself. I don't even go to school atm. Frankly I'm a little confused how my doll closet filled up so quickly. Seriously, HOW??? But I'm still happy it did. ^ - ^ (Having said all that, my dolls wear primarily borrowed clothes or none at all.... Eheh.... )

 

I bought and recieved my first doll in November of last year and my second doll was bought and recieved in January of this year, They actually arrived exactly 2 months apart. Vin came on November 24th 2011 and Winter arrived January 24th 2012. I have been looking at other dolls, and making plans and lists for others, but I am not in a rush to get them because, right now, Vin and Winter are a completed set and the next doll I get will more than likely not be in their story with them, so I don't feel the need to rush. If I had the money though I would buy all of them right now. ^_~

 

I think it depends on the person. Personally I waited several years between getting my first and second doll - enough time to get some nice clothes for Ces, bond and spend time with him, and to truly enjoy having my very first doll. Then when I got Seraphine it felt like the right time when adding another doll would be appropriate. I'm going to leave a gap between getting her and my third doll partly for financial reasons and partly because I don't feel I've connected well enough with her yet to get another one.

That's just how I approach it. I've seen people buy dolls in bulk and love them all. I just like to focus on one at a time, because if I bought loads at once I'd feel a bit inundated and like I couldn't truly spend time with them all and thus warrant their purchase.

 

Yes!! I think it is. My first one hasn't even arrived and I want a second!

 

I'm still saving for my first doll, but I see at least 3 that I want very badly. If I had the money, I'd definitely get all of them at once I don't see anything wrong with it at all.